TN: Surprisingly young wines (02 Chevillon, 01 E St John)

The two reds were a surprise, both still very unevolved and tight. Drunk with turkey meatloaf last night (couldn’t see doing a bird for three). Decanted about two-plus hours ahead.

2002 Chevillon - Nuits St. Georges - Les Perrieres: This was somewhat more giving than the syrah. From the decanting through the end of the bottle, the aromas were lovely, though only moderately intense. Very Nuits-ish, with the Chevillon brightness you expect. Somewhere in the middle of the red-dark fruit spectrum. Just the beginnings of some earthiness. There is still a good amount of structure, both tannin and acid, though it is very balanced and not tough or shrill in any way. There is ample fruit concentration, but it’s really holding back. Plums and cherries of varied hues, but not front and forward.
I’ve got two more bottles, which I won’t touch for at least another five years. Today, this wine challenges you to find what’s hiding there. I’d say 91 points today, but a lot of upside potential.

2001 Edmunds St. John - Wylie-Fenaughty Vineyard (El Dorado County) Syrah: A faint, faint streak of reduction when decanting, just enough to be pleasant and evoke the Northern Rhone. There are some moderately dark fruits lurking there – plums and some black cherries. But they merely lurk. Mostly it’s tight, tight, tight, even an hour-plus into the consumption. This wine showed well young, but seemed to have enormous potential, and a bottle I opened with the gang at Chelsea Wine Storage four years ago I described as “Fabulous, oodles of fruit, good structure.”
Not sure what the story is here. Maybe I should have decanted and served it immediately, and it shut down in the time after decanting (I only sniffed at the time of decanting). I doubt the Chelsea bottle had any substantial decant time.
Last night, everything seemed to be there for a good (distant) future – the fruit concentration and structure, without any overextraction. It just didn’t show the fruit or tertiary development you’d expect. I’d say 89+ now, with fingers crossed for the future. Before looking at my old notes, I was thinking this needed another 10 years.
Now I’m not sure what do with my remaining bottle. Will it show like this one or the one at Chelsea?

2013 Gobelsburg - Gruner Veltliner “Tradition”: Our starter still wine. This is a special cuvee made with indigenous yeast, no temperature control, aged in old foudres. Pretty rich (13.5%) but with good acid. But not very complex or interesting.

great notes. Miss that Chevillon label. Don’t like the washed out new one.

Thanks for the write up John. I had that same bottle of Chevillon with Thanksgiving lunch. It was as you described very tight and ungiving. I left it alone open for several hours and was rewarded. Around 8 hours later, it was open but still youthful. I agree with your plan for future bottles. My next bottle fo that will be in 5 years. There is much to come in this bottle. Thanks again.

The ongoing challenge of ESJ Syrah. Will it be sunny or sullen. Age does not seem to be a determining factor. The wines have moods. As often as I reach for one of Steve’s Syrhas (often), I end up putting them back and grabbing a Rocks & Gravel or El Jaleo, which are more reliably friendly.

But when those Syrahs are in the mood they are damn fine.

That’s interesting, David. I’ve not had the same syrahs often enough to be able to gauge the inconsistency, but I think I saw that with one of the '05s (I’d have to check my notes) – one bottle grapy and fleshy, and the next pretty taut.

There was about two ounces of the 01 Wylie-Fenaughty left in the decanter overnight Thursday, which I sampled last night. It hadn’t really moved. No signs of oxidation, or additional signs of fruit.

Glad here for the TN and data point on the 2002 Chevillon, even as I’m holding on to a few Vaucrains and Les St Georges. Although, I’m not as surprised about the 2002 Les Perrieres still tasting young.